In the Dead of the Night
by charlibubble
Summary: "thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind, For thee, and for myself no quiet find" GSR guide to beating insomnia x


Sara sighed as she listened to the sound of the clock.

_Tick._

_Tock._

_Tick._

_Tock._

Why did it have to be so loud? She sighed as she turned in her bed, finally relenting and opening her eyes to view the vacant space which had once been her husband. Her hand stroked the pillow, stroked the indent where his head had laid not 2 nights before. She could still smell his scent from the sheets as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The bed felt cold without him, she waited for sleep to come.

Still nothing.

Her eyes snapped open and she whirled around again, staring at the ceiling and chewing her inner lip. She picked up her cell phone and stared at it, willing it to chime, attempting to channel her Husband's subconscious so that he would text her from the other side of the world.

Nothing.

She grabbed his pillow and clutched it towards her body, pressing her face into it and breathing in his scent, pretending just for a little while that he was there beside her.

Still her brain would not switch off.

Sara threw the pillow across the room, immediately regretting doing such a thing to her substitute husband as she felt the cold air replace the warm pillow. She sighed as she slipped into her robe and slippers and padded across the room to retrieve it. The mirror in front of her painted a bleak picture. Her pale skin, bags under her eyes, she looked thin and drained. Probably just as well her husband wasn't there she decided.

A glimmer of light reflected in the mirror and caught her eye. She frowned at it for a moment before padding into the living room, her face immediately breaking into a wide smile as she realised exactly what the light was.

* * *

><p>Grissom sighed as he listened to the sound of the clock.<p>

_Tick._

_Tock._

_Tick._

_Tock_.

It reminded him of being at home, sleeping in a soft bed beside his beautiful wife. She was always cursing their ticking clock. The camp bed squeaked beneath him as he turned onto his side, it smelled of soil and canvas nothing like the rich fruity scent of his sheets at home. He closed his eyes and pictured her beside him, her hair fanning out on the pillow and her gentle breathing, how he wished he could reach out and touch her. He willed sleep to come. To bring his thoughts away from missing her but nothing but more thoughts filled his mind.

He was thinking, really hard, about not thinking.

It made his head hurt.

He reached for his book. He was making his way through his books at an alarming rate, there wasn't really a lot else to do when night fell and he had never been known for his social skills. Not that he felt he missed out on a great deal. He thoroughly enjoyed his quiet times. His books were a refuge, an escape from the daily grind and while he relished his privacy he was beginning to miss the companionship he felt when he was with his wife. Tonight the book just wasn't doing it for him. 2 nights ago he had been reading it to Sara as she curled under his arm on their sofa, he couldn't read it alone.

He pulled out his cell phone and stared at it, his fingers lingering over the keys. He could just send her a text, that way even if she was asleep she would know he was thinking about her. He pressed a few buttons before stopping and hastily deleting the whole thing, tossing the cell phone back on the table at his side. Although his mind was whirring he could think of nothing to say.

Nothing, but everything.

Why could he never think of the words when it came to her?

He turned onto his back and stared at the roof of his tent, sleep would come. He was sure of it; if he stared at the roof for long enough eventually he would sleep.

Nothing.

He was full of nervous energy. His eyes fell onto his laptop in the corner of the room. It was still switched on, he had gotten into the habit of it since coming to Peru. It was his window back to the real world.

Grissom padded over to it and sat down, hitting a few buttons and peering at the screen.

* * *

><p>"Hi!"<p>

"Didn't expect to see you here"

Sara frowned a little as she sat down, still clutching a pillow to her body.

"Who exactly were you expecting to see?"

"I thought you would be sleeping, I just wanted to feel close to you….. Is that my pillow?"

A smile was his only answer.

They held each other's eye contact for a while, silently contemplating the serendipity.

"I guess Insomnia is good for some things"

"O sleep! O gentle sleep! Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, that thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down and steep my senses in forgetfulness?"

He was sure he almost saw her roll her eyes as she settled back onto the sofa and wrinkled her nose.

"Shakespeare?"

He nodded, he realised suddenly that he would soon run out of quotations for her. That eventually she would be quoting things to him that he had long forgotten. Would she quote William Shakespeare to him or would she quote Gil Grissom to him. Now that was the question.

"I could use some of that now, maybe help me sleep"

She yawned and pulled the pillow tighter to her body. He had noticed how tired and pale she looked, even in the peak of Vegas summertime she looked white, her freckles dotting over her nose barely visible.

"I could read for you?"

The soft smile which crossed her face was contagious.

"Would you? … N..Not Shakespeare though. Too much thinking"

Grissom reached for his book, the same book he had read with her when he was home. He opened it to the very passage he had finished with. He spoke in calm hushed tones and he could see her visibly relax.

"Over the course of the week, Grant feels his anger dissipating. He reflects on the fact that he never stays angry for a long time, although he never believes in anything for very long either. …"

He didn't get much farther through chapter 17 when he noticed a shift in Sara's posture, she had fallen asleep. Comforted perhaps by his voice as he read to her.

He smiled in her direction and carried his laptop towards his bed, Settling it on the bedside table he slid into his bed and whispered a soft "goodnight Sara" in her direction before sleep finally found him too.


End file.
